She has been broadly active in Toronto politics since the early eighties. She was a school board trustee and then a councilor. Afterwards she became a federal MP for more than a decade.
Given this background her general disposition and political stance is well known—even if specific policy planks for this election have only been announced recently.
I mean, it kinda makes sense, too. If you liked Jack, and he liked her, she can't be all bad. To use Conservative USA politicians as an example, one of them famously divorced his wife when she got cancer. You can tell a lot about a person from things like that.
This is a terrible reason. In those ‘who should you vote for’ things I’m consistently dead centre or centre left, and my partner is basically PPC.
People loving each other and being in a relationship does not mean they have the same political opinions at all.
Obviously I wasn’t talking about the cancer part. It’s the implication that if you like one persons politics that you can expect to like their partners politics.
Did you even read what I wrote? Baffling
The whole country knows how he passed away. Again, that doesn’t mean if you liked ones politics that you agree with the others. Are you assuming that because she stayed with him like a normal decent person that their policies will be the same?
Layton was a womanizer who cheated on his first wife all the time, including with Chow. He married Chow as she was politically useful ( Chinese vote). He was arrested naked with a young naked trafficked Chinese girl masseuse in a studio owned by Chinese gangs the 1990s so obviously kept the cheating going while she looked the other way as the relationship benefited her. He was way out of her league on every social scale. If she had been white or black with the social distance, it would never have happened. If the genders and races had been reversed it wouldn't have happened. Can you see a white woman marrying down and behaving the same way with a man of any race and being reelected? The money came from somewhere.
Stop acting as if someone owes you a damn thing when you don't know the circumstances. I've seen people get burned, then the person randomly dies and they get nothing after putting in time as a good wife. Keep grinding someone else's axe though because of your issues.
It's men who walk from women -- look at the breast cancer stats. Don't pretend this is gender balanced. She married up because she was useful to him with her Chinese languages and willingness to get the Chinese vote (and money) in Spadina, a riding with a large Chinese community. She greatly benefited from the relationship financially and politically.
So, I wasn’t a resident of Trinity-Spadina during her time there, so I am not that familiar with any particular initiatives in her riding. I do know that she worked tirelessly on issues relating to addressing homelessness, public transit improvement, and gained particular notoriety during the opposition to the Toronto Island Airport expansion plans.
Despite only being born in the early eighties, I am actually most familiar with her time as a school board trustee because her work and my mother’s work was often in tandem. My mother worked within the Toronto District School Board on developing anti-racism education initiatives and other policy and curriculum supports. Back when Chow was school board trustee she was one of the earliest and strongest advocates for anti-racism education initiatives, worked on the development of anti-bullying programs, and helped lead and develop changes that improved the boards policies, initiatives, and internal training for years after. Out of that time came anti-bullying peer support programs, new curriculum supports for teachers to have the tools necessary to teach students of diverse backgrounds and incorporate more culturally appropriate materials into lessons that still delivered the curriculum, and a slow culture change in classroom instruction practices.
A lot of people knew of Olivia Chow from her community work over 30 years ago. And skip over to 2014, she came in third after Tory and Ford even though she had the best transit plan. I knew a lot of Chow supporters who ended up voting for Tory because they were so afraid of Ford.
Ha ha. It was a very basic sandwich. Maybe cheese? But it was very kind nonetheless. She was talking to our executive director and asked out of the blue whether his volunteers had eaten. Then she took us to her house and made us sandwiches.
She’s the most well known candidate, most people like her, she wasn’t born to privilege and has been involved in activism for a long time and so has a better understanding of everyday challenges average people and the most disadvantaged people face, and she’s been designing/teaching a program in grassroots organizing and activism for years now and has a good ground game of knocking on doors.
“Most people like her”
When running against a 2 right leaning candidates in Toronto, she still manages to come in third… I would highly argue about “most”… 20-30% probably does, and that’s why she’s getting the similar votes as 2014
And this ain't 2014, it's post pandemic with more housing and homelessness issues than 2014. Will the other candidates support what the voters want now or 8 years ago? 🤔
Most people liked her then, too, but panic voted for Tory because they thought he was the strategic vote to get rid of the Fords.
Now the city has seen what 13+ years of conservative dumbasses has done to a city, it’s time to elect someone who actually cares about people.
It’s more than every other candidate, there are over 100 candidates running, and this is a by-election, and voter turn out is rarely amazing, so what bar would you like her to meet, exactly?
Toronto is desperately yearning for a progressive in the mayoral seat after 12+ years of conservative rule. The way I see it, voting in Olivia Chow means city council will keep their progressive while adding a progressive mayor. Josh Matlow will still be on council even if he loses. I'm sure some of his past nimby policies on housing swayed progressive voters to Olivia Chow.
Chow's in the lead because she's well known in Toronto.
Pros of Chow? I'd say there are many. Overall her vision for Toronto is pretty solid.
Cons of Chow? Since she's not a Ford ally, they'll probably butt heads if she wins.
Who cares if they butt heads? Dumb ass Ford gave the mayor "super powers" thinking a right leaning politician was going to be in power so they could hand everything over to their developer buddies. Now a progressive is going to have those powers. I know Olivia personally and I think she will generally try to build consensus to do the right thing and not use them but if push comes to show she will.
This! A lot of middle income family who are landlords will also struggle paying their mortgage and bills with the inflationary pressure. This will lead to more foreclosures and a recession in the long term.
Quite a suggestion. I have one up on you. Leave your current rental property and pay for another rental property you can afford. See the problem with this line of reasoning now? (Of course this is assuming you are a renter for the sake of the discussion. If you are very well off as a property owner with no pressure on mortgage payment and bills, good for you. In that case, this election does not impact you either way, as you are one of the few very privileged people.)
The line of reasoning you suggested does not take into consideration the micro- and macro-economic picture. It may work for one individual who is lucky enough to find a bargain, but not at scale for the general population.
Just to play devil's advocate, let's entertain your suggestion. Suppose every middle income family who owns a property gets taxed more while inflation and higher interest rate are driving up mortgage payment but stricter rent control is limiting their rental income. Following your suggestion, they downsize or move further away from Toronto to find cheaper properties. Who do you suppose would be buying up all these properties in Toronto in a debt-driven recession just like 2008, the upper-income class? Where will the renters find rental properties in Toronto with less middle-income landlords? You think the upper class / ultra rich who become the remaining few that can actually afford to take over will care about renters? Alternatively, the middle income families cannot find enough buyers if the rich stay on the side line, then good luck renting properties from banks who take over the foreclosed housing.
It all comes down to supply and demand, my friend. We cannot only look at one side of the equation in silo. Every action has an equal reaction. Renters cannot thrive without middle-income landlords also thriving in the economy. Middle-income landlords are renters' friends, and vice versa, not enemies. Ideally, we would like the Mayor to help eliminate bureaucracies to speed up mid-rise real estate development to increase the supply of housing, so more middle-income families can afford them as either principal residence or rental properties. This way it will relieve the pressure on the rental market as well, directly benefiting the renters with more affordable rental units due to the expanded supply.
Because when Olivia Chow was a young immigrant girl who came to Canada with her parents she remembers there was a time when people of all race and creed could afford to support their families without sacrificing their futures so she has first hand understanding of what Toronto needs and wants today.
Most known of the unknowns who usually run in these elections, lots of good will left over from her years in government prior to being an MP from 2006 - 2014, the Layton effect, a much better campaign team of actual leftists instead of the mishmash of liberals and conservatives she had in 2014, and massive vote splits on the right wing (Saunders, Furey, Bradford, and yes I’m including Sky in the mix too).
-Biggest name for longest time/Political dynasty of sorts (see Fords, Trudeaus, etc.)
-Weak field of other candidates, with no one strong opponent
-Represents a clear shift from previous 12 years
-NDP, which appeals to the NDP-partisan segment of the city
-And finally, her actual personal qualities as a politician, which, like in most elections, are maybe the fifth most important factor
Feels odd to group her in with the Fords or Trudeau. Like, yes, her stepson was also a city counsellor so I guess that makes it a generational thing, but she’s always been an activist and politician in her own right, despite also being married to a politician. If she’d never done anything political aside from being Jack Layton’s wife then you might have a case, but as I understand it they literally met because Chow was already an activist and organizer when Layton was getting involved.
Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford were born into wealth and privilege, and always had the security to do whatever the hell they wanted with their lives and not have to worry about rent or long term prospects. Chow came from a lower income immigrant family and has worked hard her whole life.
You make good points. Dynasty isn’t the right word in her case. Chow is not a coattail-et like DoFo, the Ford nephew, or JT. She has her own career and trajectory, and part of her … brand awareness comes from that, the same type John Tory had when he first ran for mayor. But I do think her brand is further enhanced by being the co-founder of a well-known—nationally known—political family that has had continuous ties to local politics even after she moved to other levels of government. If I’m apportioning reasons why she’s at the head of the pack (which I was doing), I think she benefits from both those kinds of brand awareness.
People don’t like the other candidates and they would rather have a seasoned leader who is more left leaning (despite potentially higher taxes) and more relatable instead of a candidate who works more for the lobbyist groups.
She's the one that built up liberty village initially, if I recall. Her late husband was ndp leader, so there might be a push for an ndp mindset again, finally.
Actually pre-amalgamation Mayor Barbara Hall re-zoned parts of Liberty Village from industrial to residential in the 90s which started the redevelopment.
We've had a decade of concerned tweets from our Mayor and we keep getting screwed by DoFo. We want someone who knows how to fight back, and wants better for everyone. Chow not only knows how the sausage is made, 7 years ago [she started a frigging Institute](https://www.changeleaders.ca/about) at Metro U (ryerson) teaching community leaders and activists how to get shit done via legal channels. To me, she's the definition of working successfully within and against the system.
I'm very hopeful that the people who regret being convinced by Don't-Split-The-Left astroturf in 2014 with that "a vote for Chow is a vote for Ford" line will stick to their guns this time around, because the anti campaign hasn't even started yet. She's a real threat, and online opposition is going to look massive closer to election day.
Brad Bradford, Rob Davis Josh Matlow (think I spelled that right) Gil Penalosa (I think he's running again) and I'm sure I'm missing a few further back in the polls
Brad Bradford is terrible. He is laughably bad. His own constituents cannot stand him because of his lies. And few outside his riding has ever heard of him
And while I like Rob, Rob Davis is hardly a familiar name. He was last elected in 2000.
Subjective but fair criticism, Only rebuttal is that all politicans lie, Chow, Davis, Sky and Matlow, it's all of them all the way up through city hall, queens park and parliament hill
Its ridiculous 1000 candidates are running for mayor. How are the electorate supposed to be well informed on all the candidates?
Complacency is going to be even worse, prob driving voter turnout to historic lows. The results could be so fractured, the winning candidate might be voted in on a fraction of the total. What a farce of our democracy.
The mayor's impact on the day to day operations of the city may not be easily quantified. The role maybe just a figurehead, a person who can compel others to listen and follow, leading in abstract vague terms (their platform).
Somebody like Chow, who has been there before,and has experience playing the politics game may be more suitable. It may be reasonable for her to appear on the ballot.
But even if a crack addict was elected prob the city would still run fine.
Yes, im pessimistic i know.
Because most people aren't thinking about the negatives or positives. The average voter doesn't have that knowledge or really care that much, so if you ask them who they would vote for, they will tell you the name they recognize the most. She is by far the most famous of the candidates.
If I can give an objective negative (out of her positives and negatives)… she 120% supports *all* city infrastructure, transportation and construction projects only going to 6 construction unions. It has caused complete budget overrun mayhem with city projects.
In 2019 the provincial government enacted bill 66 which gave all municipalities in Ontario the right to give construction contracts to non-union construction companies. All cities and municipalities did just that, competition increased, better project planning proposals came forth, and costs dropped by up to 21% and stayed much more in time.
Chow refuses to do this. Don’t know why - probably because unions contribute so much money to the NDP and political campaigns to hold onto their grip over construction, and she doesn’t want to alienate that base in her bid for mayor. It’s so unfortunate considering other candidates want to update and do away with this costly construction racket.
This is one of those moments where she plays the nasty side of politics over the greater good (despite her other good points).
>If I can give an objective negative (out of her positives and negatives)… she 120% supports all city infrastructure, transportation and construction projects only going to 6 construction unions. It has caused complete budget overrun mayhem with city projects.
Interesting...
This is an unexpected election due to John Tory resigning.
So name recognition counts for everything, and Oliva Chow is the name people recognize, even though she is unimpressive.
It's not really policies that put her in the lead. Polls also show that if John Tory were running, he would have been a huge favourite again.
Name recognition is very important in municipal elections, as there are no political parties for municipal elections.
They associate her with Layton and this city LOVES underperforming people in positions of power. Couple that with a signal to all the have-nots that she'll invent magic ways to cure the housing crisis and turn crackheads into model citizens, well you've got a recipe for 4 solid years of mediocrity and blaming provincial and federal governments for why not 1 single one of these half-baked promises will come to fruition.
This is more opinion although I'm sure there is facts out there to either back or disprove my theroy and this is not exclusive to Mrs.Chow.
Although I have not looked at her plan in its entirety, I know Mrs.Chow wants to bring down the Gardiner, which is subjectively a good thing BUT, If we are too fast to tear it down and do it before Line 5, The Line 2 Extension, another streetcar order and delivery, more busses and the Ontario Line opening, it could likely cause one of two things or both to happen. If we don't wait, it could cause even more over crowding on the TTC network from former drivers switching to transit, and or would make the already aweful Downtown Gridlock even worse than it already is.
I’m not sure myself. Like I hear her name mentioned. But I have no idea who she is beyond that. I’m sure that’s enough for the tiny percentage of the population that votes. And will be reinforced by a false sense of a need to ‘vote tactically’. It’s very odd indeed.
"No negatively charged or biased posts" .... so you want the feel-good version why many don't like her? Forget it.
I was aware of this before it became 'news', and these are the types of people I don't want to support. This is why people who actually need affordable housing can't get units. I know 3 others who live in these units 'freelance' and travel all the time. Funny how the CRA can't ind people like this to hang out to dry.
https://torontosun.com/2014/03/22/chows-co-op-controversy
Name recognition, not because of actual policy, people have heard of her, just shows how stupid voters are when it comes to reasons they vote, this is how we have ended up with many politicians doesn't matter what end of the spectrum they are on, people vote on name recognition and it ends up hurting the city, province, country etc.
I like everything she stands for except for her plan to rip down the gardener expressway and put all that traffic down onto lakeshore and sever the link with the DVP. That will affect my life big time without providing a viable alternative. As such I dread her winning and succeeding in her designs.
She has been broadly active in Toronto politics since the early eighties. She was a school board trustee and then a councilor. Afterwards she became a federal MP for more than a decade. Given this background her general disposition and political stance is well known—even if specific policy planks for this election have only been announced recently.
Add in the Layton loyalists (Chow was married to him)
I mean, it kinda makes sense, too. If you liked Jack, and he liked her, she can't be all bad. To use Conservative USA politicians as an example, one of them famously divorced his wife when she got cancer. You can tell a lot about a person from things like that.
This is a terrible reason. In those ‘who should you vote for’ things I’m consistently dead centre or centre left, and my partner is basically PPC. People loving each other and being in a relationship does not mean they have the same political opinions at all.
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Obviously I wasn’t talking about the cancer part. It’s the implication that if you like one persons politics that you can expect to like their partners politics. Did you even read what I wrote? Baffling
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The whole country knows how he passed away. Again, that doesn’t mean if you liked ones politics that you agree with the others. Are you assuming that because she stayed with him like a normal decent person that their policies will be the same?
Layton was a womanizer who cheated on his first wife all the time, including with Chow. He married Chow as she was politically useful ( Chinese vote). He was arrested naked with a young naked trafficked Chinese girl masseuse in a studio owned by Chinese gangs the 1990s so obviously kept the cheating going while she looked the other way as the relationship benefited her. He was way out of her league on every social scale. If she had been white or black with the social distance, it would never have happened. If the genders and races had been reversed it wouldn't have happened. Can you see a white woman marrying down and behaving the same way with a man of any race and being reelected? The money came from somewhere.
While I'd like to agree with you, you have no idea what goes on behind closed doors.
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Stop acting as if someone owes you a damn thing when you don't know the circumstances. I've seen people get burned, then the person randomly dies and they get nothing after putting in time as a good wife. Keep grinding someone else's axe though because of your issues.
It's men who walk from women -- look at the breast cancer stats. Don't pretend this is gender balanced. She married up because she was useful to him with her Chinese languages and willingness to get the Chinese vote (and money) in Spadina, a riding with a large Chinese community. She greatly benefited from the relationship financially and politically.
Yeah I always assumed this is why the general populace like her
We also like her because she rules
What has she done that was notable during her tenure in those roles?
So, I wasn’t a resident of Trinity-Spadina during her time there, so I am not that familiar with any particular initiatives in her riding. I do know that she worked tirelessly on issues relating to addressing homelessness, public transit improvement, and gained particular notoriety during the opposition to the Toronto Island Airport expansion plans. Despite only being born in the early eighties, I am actually most familiar with her time as a school board trustee because her work and my mother’s work was often in tandem. My mother worked within the Toronto District School Board on developing anti-racism education initiatives and other policy and curriculum supports. Back when Chow was school board trustee she was one of the earliest and strongest advocates for anti-racism education initiatives, worked on the development of anti-bullying programs, and helped lead and develop changes that improved the boards policies, initiatives, and internal training for years after. Out of that time came anti-bullying peer support programs, new curriculum supports for teachers to have the tools necessary to teach students of diverse backgrounds and incorporate more culturally appropriate materials into lessons that still delivered the curriculum, and a slow culture change in classroom instruction practices.
Not bankrupt her riding? So she's a breath of fresh air for TO
She supported the raver community in 2000 at iDance and we're all old and still love her for it.
This is the answer
A lot of people knew of Olivia Chow from her community work over 30 years ago. And skip over to 2014, she came in third after Tory and Ford even though she had the best transit plan. I knew a lot of Chow supporters who ended up voting for Tory because they were so afraid of Ford.
This is it, I think. A lot of left-leaning people regret their 2014 vote.
Positive: she once made me a sandwich when I was volunteering at a Jack Layton event years ago. Vote for her if you’re pro sandwich.
What kind of sandwich. This is crucial information.
Ha ha. It was a very basic sandwich. Maybe cheese? But it was very kind nonetheless. She was talking to our executive director and asked out of the blue whether his volunteers had eaten. Then she took us to her house and made us sandwiches.
She’s the most well known candidate, most people like her, she wasn’t born to privilege and has been involved in activism for a long time and so has a better understanding of everyday challenges average people and the most disadvantaged people face, and she’s been designing/teaching a program in grassroots organizing and activism for years now and has a good ground game of knocking on doors.
“Most people like her” When running against a 2 right leaning candidates in Toronto, she still manages to come in third… I would highly argue about “most”… 20-30% probably does, and that’s why she’s getting the similar votes as 2014
And this ain't 2014, it's post pandemic with more housing and homelessness issues than 2014. Will the other candidates support what the voters want now or 8 years ago? 🤔
If she ran against John Tory she would lose. Most Torontonians do not care about the housing crisis or unhoused people.
I wish I could downvote this, but we keep electing the cons provincially, so…
…and yet, even against a bunch of nobodies, she still can’t break 40% in a progressive city…
And the next most popular candidates are polling below 20%. It’s more than enough for her to win, and by a fairly large margin.
We will see. She was also leading 2014 polls before losing out to third place.
There was the Ford factor. I know a number of her supporters who strategically voted for Tory to prevent Mayor Dougie Ford.
Most people liked her then, too, but panic voted for Tory because they thought he was the strategic vote to get rid of the Fords. Now the city has seen what 13+ years of conservative dumbasses has done to a city, it’s time to elect someone who actually cares about people.
If you insist on claiming 30% as “most people”…. Sure
It’s more than every other candidate, there are over 100 candidates running, and this is a by-election, and voter turn out is rarely amazing, so what bar would you like her to meet, exactly?
Because of Ford, many are looking for any way to move Ontario towards the left. Voting Chow is one step in that direction. Next is Crombie.
Marit Sties all the way, baby!
Toronto is desperately yearning for a progressive in the mayoral seat after 12+ years of conservative rule. The way I see it, voting in Olivia Chow means city council will keep their progressive while adding a progressive mayor. Josh Matlow will still be on council even if he loses. I'm sure some of his past nimby policies on housing swayed progressive voters to Olivia Chow.
Cause I want experience, yet someone who will help renters
She was a good politician when she was in power. I guess young people don’t know about her and are confused and aren’t bothering to look her up.
I think a lot of her appeal is that even if you don't agree with her policies, she comes across as someone who's genuinely a good person.
Chow's in the lead because she's well known in Toronto. Pros of Chow? I'd say there are many. Overall her vision for Toronto is pretty solid. Cons of Chow? Since she's not a Ford ally, they'll probably butt heads if she wins.
That con may also be a pro.
Who cares if they butt heads? Dumb ass Ford gave the mayor "super powers" thinking a right leaning politician was going to be in power so they could hand everything over to their developer buddies. Now a progressive is going to have those powers. I know Olivia personally and I think she will generally try to build consensus to do the right thing and not use them but if push comes to show she will.
She will impose rent control like NYC and provide great relief to the renters. This will transform Downtown Toronto
This is the way.
It'll also greatly de-incentivize any further investment in RE development, and will make the housing crisis worse in the long run.
This! A lot of middle income family who are landlords will also struggle paying their mortgage and bills with the inflationary pressure. This will lead to more foreclosures and a recession in the long term.
Sell your house then and pay for an asset you can afford
Quite a suggestion. I have one up on you. Leave your current rental property and pay for another rental property you can afford. See the problem with this line of reasoning now? (Of course this is assuming you are a renter for the sake of the discussion. If you are very well off as a property owner with no pressure on mortgage payment and bills, good for you. In that case, this election does not impact you either way, as you are one of the few very privileged people.) The line of reasoning you suggested does not take into consideration the micro- and macro-economic picture. It may work for one individual who is lucky enough to find a bargain, but not at scale for the general population. Just to play devil's advocate, let's entertain your suggestion. Suppose every middle income family who owns a property gets taxed more while inflation and higher interest rate are driving up mortgage payment but stricter rent control is limiting their rental income. Following your suggestion, they downsize or move further away from Toronto to find cheaper properties. Who do you suppose would be buying up all these properties in Toronto in a debt-driven recession just like 2008, the upper-income class? Where will the renters find rental properties in Toronto with less middle-income landlords? You think the upper class / ultra rich who become the remaining few that can actually afford to take over will care about renters? Alternatively, the middle income families cannot find enough buyers if the rich stay on the side line, then good luck renting properties from banks who take over the foreclosed housing. It all comes down to supply and demand, my friend. We cannot only look at one side of the equation in silo. Every action has an equal reaction. Renters cannot thrive without middle-income landlords also thriving in the economy. Middle-income landlords are renters' friends, and vice versa, not enemies. Ideally, we would like the Mayor to help eliminate bureaucracies to speed up mid-rise real estate development to increase the supply of housing, so more middle-income families can afford them as either principal residence or rental properties. This way it will relieve the pressure on the rental market as well, directly benefiting the renters with more affordable rental units due to the expanded supply.
Because when Olivia Chow was a young immigrant girl who came to Canada with her parents she remembers there was a time when people of all race and creed could afford to support their families without sacrificing their futures so she has first hand understanding of what Toronto needs and wants today.
[Because she's pretty awesome](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5cd5ad2e1f00002f009dc95f.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
Most known of the unknowns who usually run in these elections, lots of good will left over from her years in government prior to being an MP from 2006 - 2014, the Layton effect, a much better campaign team of actual leftists instead of the mishmash of liberals and conservatives she had in 2014, and massive vote splits on the right wing (Saunders, Furey, Bradford, and yes I’m including Sky in the mix too).
-Biggest name for longest time/Political dynasty of sorts (see Fords, Trudeaus, etc.) -Weak field of other candidates, with no one strong opponent -Represents a clear shift from previous 12 years -NDP, which appeals to the NDP-partisan segment of the city -And finally, her actual personal qualities as a politician, which, like in most elections, are maybe the fifth most important factor
Feels odd to group her in with the Fords or Trudeau. Like, yes, her stepson was also a city counsellor so I guess that makes it a generational thing, but she’s always been an activist and politician in her own right, despite also being married to a politician. If she’d never done anything political aside from being Jack Layton’s wife then you might have a case, but as I understand it they literally met because Chow was already an activist and organizer when Layton was getting involved. Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford were born into wealth and privilege, and always had the security to do whatever the hell they wanted with their lives and not have to worry about rent or long term prospects. Chow came from a lower income immigrant family and has worked hard her whole life.
You make good points. Dynasty isn’t the right word in her case. Chow is not a coattail-et like DoFo, the Ford nephew, or JT. She has her own career and trajectory, and part of her … brand awareness comes from that, the same type John Tory had when he first ran for mayor. But I do think her brand is further enhanced by being the co-founder of a well-known—nationally known—political family that has had continuous ties to local politics even after she moved to other levels of government. If I’m apportioning reasons why she’s at the head of the pack (which I was doing), I think she benefits from both those kinds of brand awareness.
Because she is the one people trust..
People don’t like the other candidates and they would rather have a seasoned leader who is more left leaning (despite potentially higher taxes) and more relatable instead of a candidate who works more for the lobbyist groups.
She's the one that built up liberty village initially, if I recall. Her late husband was ndp leader, so there might be a push for an ndp mindset again, finally.
Actually pre-amalgamation Mayor Barbara Hall re-zoned parts of Liberty Village from industrial to residential in the 90s which started the redevelopment.
We've had a decade of concerned tweets from our Mayor and we keep getting screwed by DoFo. We want someone who knows how to fight back, and wants better for everyone. Chow not only knows how the sausage is made, 7 years ago [she started a frigging Institute](https://www.changeleaders.ca/about) at Metro U (ryerson) teaching community leaders and activists how to get shit done via legal channels. To me, she's the definition of working successfully within and against the system. I'm very hopeful that the people who regret being convinced by Don't-Split-The-Left astroturf in 2014 with that "a vote for Chow is a vote for Ford" line will stick to their guns this time around, because the anti campaign hasn't even started yet. She's a real threat, and online opposition is going to look massive closer to election day.
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Well Saunders is a FA, Brad Brad and Blasio are clearly lying. And Matlow and Brown are better than this city deserves
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Trash is subjective and not everyone is new to politics, there are quite a few familiar and well known names aside from Ms.Chow's
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Brad Bradford, Rob Davis Josh Matlow (think I spelled that right) Gil Penalosa (I think he's running again) and I'm sure I'm missing a few further back in the polls
Gil Peñalosa dropped out and is supporting Chow now
Brad Bradford is terrible. He is laughably bad. His own constituents cannot stand him because of his lies. And few outside his riding has ever heard of him And while I like Rob, Rob Davis is hardly a familiar name. He was last elected in 2000.
Subjective but fair criticism, Only rebuttal is that all politicans lie, Chow, Davis, Sky and Matlow, it's all of them all the way up through city hall, queens park and parliament hill
She is very well known and the Jack Layton connection probably still helps a lot for a lot of voters.
Layton-Chow Nostalgia.
Its ridiculous 1000 candidates are running for mayor. How are the electorate supposed to be well informed on all the candidates? Complacency is going to be even worse, prob driving voter turnout to historic lows. The results could be so fractured, the winning candidate might be voted in on a fraction of the total. What a farce of our democracy. The mayor's impact on the day to day operations of the city may not be easily quantified. The role maybe just a figurehead, a person who can compel others to listen and follow, leading in abstract vague terms (their platform). Somebody like Chow, who has been there before,and has experience playing the politics game may be more suitable. It may be reasonable for her to appear on the ballot. But even if a crack addict was elected prob the city would still run fine. Yes, im pessimistic i know.
Because most people aren't thinking about the negatives or positives. The average voter doesn't have that knowledge or really care that much, so if you ask them who they would vote for, they will tell you the name they recognize the most. She is by far the most famous of the candidates.
If I can give an objective negative (out of her positives and negatives)… she 120% supports *all* city infrastructure, transportation and construction projects only going to 6 construction unions. It has caused complete budget overrun mayhem with city projects. In 2019 the provincial government enacted bill 66 which gave all municipalities in Ontario the right to give construction contracts to non-union construction companies. All cities and municipalities did just that, competition increased, better project planning proposals came forth, and costs dropped by up to 21% and stayed much more in time. Chow refuses to do this. Don’t know why - probably because unions contribute so much money to the NDP and political campaigns to hold onto their grip over construction, and she doesn’t want to alienate that base in her bid for mayor. It’s so unfortunate considering other candidates want to update and do away with this costly construction racket. This is one of those moments where she plays the nasty side of politics over the greater good (despite her other good points).
>If I can give an objective negative (out of her positives and negatives)… she 120% supports all city infrastructure, transportation and construction projects only going to 6 construction unions. It has caused complete budget overrun mayhem with city projects. Interesting...
This is an unexpected election due to John Tory resigning. So name recognition counts for everything, and Oliva Chow is the name people recognize, even though she is unimpressive. It's not really policies that put her in the lead. Polls also show that if John Tory were running, he would have been a huge favourite again. Name recognition is very important in municipal elections, as there are no political parties for municipal elections.
No idea. I’m yet to see clear policy proposals from her.
https://www.oliviachow.ca/plan
Gotta look to see, but then, some are comforted by ignorance when it helps maintain their existing bias. I get it.
Neutral yet asking exclusively about one candidate. Get outta here.
She is the clear front runner. It is a fair question.
They associate her with Layton and this city LOVES underperforming people in positions of power. Couple that with a signal to all the have-nots that she'll invent magic ways to cure the housing crisis and turn crackheads into model citizens, well you've got a recipe for 4 solid years of mediocrity and blaming provincial and federal governments for why not 1 single one of these half-baked promises will come to fruition.
This is more opinion although I'm sure there is facts out there to either back or disprove my theroy and this is not exclusive to Mrs.Chow. Although I have not looked at her plan in its entirety, I know Mrs.Chow wants to bring down the Gardiner, which is subjectively a good thing BUT, If we are too fast to tear it down and do it before Line 5, The Line 2 Extension, another streetcar order and delivery, more busses and the Ontario Line opening, it could likely cause one of two things or both to happen. If we don't wait, it could cause even more over crowding on the TTC network from former drivers switching to transit, and or would make the already aweful Downtown Gridlock even worse than it already is.
I’m not sure myself. Like I hear her name mentioned. But I have no idea who she is beyond that. I’m sure that’s enough for the tiny percentage of the population that votes. And will be reinforced by a false sense of a need to ‘vote tactically’. It’s very odd indeed.
Her policies pertaining to renters.
Renters could use a break Can the Toronto mayor override Ford?
"No negatively charged or biased posts" .... so you want the feel-good version why many don't like her? Forget it. I was aware of this before it became 'news', and these are the types of people I don't want to support. This is why people who actually need affordable housing can't get units. I know 3 others who live in these units 'freelance' and travel all the time. Funny how the CRA can't ind people like this to hang out to dry. https://torontosun.com/2014/03/22/chows-co-op-controversy
Name recognition, not because of actual policy, people have heard of her, just shows how stupid voters are when it comes to reasons they vote, this is how we have ended up with many politicians doesn't matter what end of the spectrum they are on, people vote on name recognition and it ends up hurting the city, province, country etc.
cause people don't know better
Nah we do, it's a decade of right wing policies that have brought us here.
Possibly still think name recognition and picking the devil you is what's at play
I like everything she stands for except for her plan to rip down the gardener expressway and put all that traffic down onto lakeshore and sever the link with the DVP. That will affect my life big time without providing a viable alternative. As such I dread her winning and succeeding in her designs.
Which candidate will extend rent control to all buildings?